Unrated tornado, Hale Center, Texas, May 26, 2021

1. EF065 to 85 mph

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. EF186 to 110 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 mph

   Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

4. EF3136 to 165 mph

   Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

5. EF4166 to 200 mph

   Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

6. EF5over 200 mph

   Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

7. Unratedthis tornado

   The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

Rating

Unrated

Date

May 26, 2021

Touchdown

9:32 PM CDT (02:32 UTC)

Lifted

9:37 PM CDT (02:37 UTC)

On the ground

5 minutes

Path length

1.0 miles (1.6 km)

Path width

30 yards (27 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Hale County

Touchdown point

34.093, -101.924

Lift-off point

34.104, -101.912

Record number

2105262032-01

Persistent southwest flow aloft and a dryline allowed scattered thunderstorms to develop again on the South Plains. Although atmospheric flow continued to be weak, substantial instability supported severe thunderstorms, mostly in the form of strong destructive winds. The most intense storms took aim on Lamb and Hale Counties where they generated large hail and destructive outflow winds. One brief tornado was reported in Hale County to the northwest of Hale Center. Late in the evening, thunderstorms evolved into bowing lines producing severe, damaging winds. These intense winds destroyed several center pivots in Hale County north of Cotton Center. Winds were estimated at 80-90 mph based on an NWS storm survey.

A few reports of a brief tornado were received from storm chasers and the public. The tornado remained over an open field and did not cause any known damage, therefore, an EF-Unknown was assigned.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

2 minutes of warning. NWS LUB issued a tornado warning for this county at 02:30 UTC, 2 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 03:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 22:15 UTC and running to 05:00 UTC.

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:53 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

Plainview (PVW), 20 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The Lubbock radar (KLBB), 50 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:31 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2021 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

20 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.